Q-Poll: New Yorkers Back Teachers Unions Over Cuomo

New York voters say they trust the state’s teachers’ unions over Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s own direction for education policy in the state, a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday found.

The poll found voters trust the unions by a margin of 55 percent to 28 percent when it comes to improving the state’s education system.

Meanwhile, as Cuomo hashes out the nettlesome details of the state budget with lawmakers, his job approval rating has fallen to 50 percent, one his lowest ever in the poll. His approval in December stood at 58 percent to 39 percent.

The survey found voters are skeptical of efforts to scale back teacher tenure or provide merit pay for teachers based on testing.

By a margin of 71 percent to 25 percent, voters believe teacher salaries shouldn’t be tied to how students perform on standardized testing. Meanwhile, 65 percent of voters polled by Quinnipiac believe teacher tenure shouldn’t be based on test scores of students.

Cuomo’s $142 billion budget proposal would increase education aid by as much as $1.1 billion, but much of the spending increases are tied to enacting a package reform measures.

Cuomo wants to create a new, more stringent teacher evaluation system, raise the statewide cap on charter schools, make it harder for teachers to obtain tenure and provide an easier route for districts to fire teachers who are deemed to be poor performing.

The governor’s plan would also make it easier for the state to have low-performing schools taken over by an independent monitor.

The fight over education in the budget has led to an all-out war between Cuomo and the teachers unions, chiefly the New York Stated United Teachers statewide and the city-based United Federation of Teachers.

“Gov. Andrew Cuomo gets his lowest grade on education, which is the top priority for voters, a grade so bad it pulls down his whole job approval score. He’s just at the 50 percent mark,” said Mickey Carroll, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll. “Gov. Cuomo gets a rap on the knuckles from the teachers’ unions. By better than 2-1, voters trust the unions more than the governor to fix the schools.”

But while voters part with Cuomo on education, they do support his efforts to increase the state’s minimum wage to $10.50. In New York City, the wage would grow to $11.50 as proposed by the governor.

Statewide, voters back the $10.50 minimum wage proposal, 73 percent to 24 percent. Only Republican voters give the thumbs down to the proposal, by a margin of 51 percent to 46 percent.

Sixty-eight percent of voters back Cuomo’s minimum wage hike for New York City to $11.50, while in New York City a broad majority of voters support the idea, 81 percent to 16 percent.

Voters are so enthusiastic about New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s minimum wage hike plan for the city and are split 47 percent to 47 percent. De Blasio’s proposal would increase the wage to $13 and index future increases to the rate of inflation.

This is largely in line with voters backing Cuomo’s more centrist political views to de Blasio’s liberal politics: 26 percent of voters say they back Cuomo’s views compared to 22 percent who say they are in line with de Blasio. Still, half voters say “neither.”

The poll of 1,228 voters was conducted from March 11 through March 16. It has a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.

This entry was posted by Nick Reisman on March 18, 2015 at 6:00 am, and is filed under Polls. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Smith

That is a good old fashioned knuckle rapping.

Jerald

Minimum Wage always polls well. Unfortunately it is a net job loser.

Paul Henry

While overall his plan sounds stupid… I think the min. wage hike is stupid too. It only makes it harder for the small businesses to compete with the large corporations and increases inflation.

discouraged

Cuomo has nothing to worry about from these greedy educators. They vote Donkey no matter what. And how can they complain? We spend more on education than any state in the nation. Our tax bills prove it. Every year, our overworked educators, when they get home from the Bahamas after spring break, cry about money. Cuomo and the teachers are both getting what they deserve, each other.

Ryan

I think attacking the teachers of this nation is a great idea. It’s what all of the worlds greatest leaders of all the greatest nations do/did. Let’s see, Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao Ze Dong, Hitler. This nation has never been on a better track. Wealth redistribution to the top 1 percent, unlimited campaign donations, dismantling of public education… Gee it’s great to be an American in the 21st century. We should definitely break one of the last strong collective bargaining groups in this country. If the rest of of us have to live on wages so far out of line with inflation, then teachers should have to also. #undermine your nation #public Ed is the middle class

discouraged

Oh Ryan, here’s a tissue. If you are honest, you will admit that spending on education here in NY has never been higher. We lead the nation in most categories, but mainly in taxes and lost jobs. Where do you teach, Ryan? I taught for over ten years, and I honestly believe it is among the toughest jobs in the world. But please. The average Joe has pumped zillions into the pockets of our educators, and the results have not reflected the sacrifices made by the taxpayers. And from people who supposedly have the advantage of a solid, balance education, we hear crap like this from people like you. Hitler hated us too? C’mon, you can do better than that. And for you to barf out that collective bargaining ooze is proof that you have been with the kids for too long. We always hear about how much better you guys could do if you took your talents to the private sector. Well Ryan, why don’t you give it a try and quit lying. We respect education. We do not respect blank checks with no accountability. And people like you have nothing to offer but more of the same. Give you more money and don’t ask questions. Those days aren’t over yet, but they are limited.

Smith

Let us look at what the Q-poll is telling us. A strong majority of the public does not believe that firing teachers or creating new schools will improve educational outcomes. The public is willing to accept a lot of policy coming from Cuomo’s top down style but educational change is not one of them.

Ryan

Spending is higher than ever? Actually there has been consistent cuts every year since the recession. I’m sure you may of heard of something called the Gap Elimination Adjustment, Which has taken money from public education to close the gap in our state budget. As I understand our state now has a surplus of revenue, yet the GEA still stands. From 2009-2011 over 220,000 teaching jobs were lost across the nation, over 40,000 in New York to date have been eliminated. Budgets have been gutted. Programs have been hit very hard especially for students with disabilities. The average joe has pumped zillions? Blank Checks? Collective bargaining is barf? And I am a burnt out teacher, that is worthless to society? Wow. It’s a good thing you gave up your career in teaching. You were obviously wasting your talents. You should continue to troll articles with research attached and real data and make broad sweeping, inaccurate, close minded, and clearly narcissistic statements. It is clear that there is no conversation to have with you. Your statements are guided only by what you feel and you cleary feel superior to everyone. I love how your inciting, broad sweeping statements are ok to make, but how dare I try to challenge the bully. Let the assumptions fly and the personal attacks commence. Don’t worry. What you lack in brains can be easily overshadowed by the size of your truck, your ammo cache, and your abundance of hostility. Pathetic!

discouraged

And that’s another thing I have trouble with with teachers. They have no problem lying. You’re obviously one of the mill. There have been decreases in the RATE of increase, but every year, with no exceptions, we spend more on your lazy ass than the year before. Budget’s have not been “gutted”, another lie Ryan. Every budget put forth in our area of northern NY was passed last year. One on a revote. Every budget went up. Every expenditure went up. You see, this is my biggest problem with you people. Rather than make rational arguments about how money should be spent, you have one solution, which is to give you more money. Don’t fret, Ryan, most of these lies have been swallowed by our political leaders, so the flow of cash to your ass will not be threatened in the near future. Thanks for adding the title “narcissistic” to the list of smears sent my way. That seems to be a favorite of the education community. You guys seem to love it. The burn out label you’ve sent makes about as much sense as me telling you how sorry I am that you can’t satisfy your wife. I won’t say it. Nope, I did another kind of government job, and it worked out well too. Now I’ll make sure my retirement dollars are spent somewhere other than NY. I’m sure you will consider the same option when or if you reach retirement age. I’ll leave you my address so you know where to send the money. Anyone who has lived anywhere else but NY knows the future is somewhere else. I’d rather be narcissistic than a liar. Most of the time I see this kind of behavior it is from teachers, those who are used to dealing with children. You have so much influence over the kids that they listen to your lies. Grown up people don’t, and that is really what you are upset about. We know what you scream for is for yourself, certainly not the kids.

BusterBrown

[There have been decreases in the RATE of increase, but every year, with no exceptions, we spend more on your lazy ass than the year before.]

Now hold on a second. If something is increasing at a decreasing rate (I vaguely recall that meaning the 2nd derivative is negative), it’s still INCREASING. Hence, more aid to cover the increase is not unreasonable. Just saying….

p.s. Math skills are important. Just look at what happened to this guy. LOL.

You are so lame. You should send your address it sounds like you could use a strong male figure in your life. I’d be happy to spend some one on one time with you and iron those rough edges of yours. It’s embarrassing to read the things you write. “You people” what adult or man would talk to someone like that if they want to be taken even remotely serious. And as far as the wife comment. Ha. Classic projection if I ever witnessed it. How long you been divorced for?